BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

New Jersey wildlife officials want to know what Avalon has been doing with its excessive skunk population.

According to the Press of Atlantic City, Mayor of Upper Township Richard Palumbo began receiving complaints from his residents in 2009 about skunks from Avalon being left at the Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area. Avalon said they caught 74 skunks that fall and released about 24 in Upper Township.

Palumbo said the problem ended with his community, but Avalon has continued to move skunks. Borough Mayor Martin Pagliughi said, “We're trapping them and putting them in the witness protection program. We don't know where they're going."

Larry Ragonese of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said Avalon doesn’t have a permit to move the skunks, according to UPI.com. He said the borough is allowed to move the skunks inside its own borders.

NBC40.net reported that Avalon officials said the NJDEP approved a plan back in 2009 to remove predators such as skunks, and the plan carries through 2014. Officials said the skunk population has become an increasing problem for Avalon in recent years.

Pagliughi told Fox 29 that the skunk population is on a high level and the animals have no natural predator. He plans to continue relocating the skunks for the immediate future.